Matt Odett
|birth_place = Dearborn, Michigan |career_start = 2001 }} Matthew Lawrence Odett '''(born May 9, 1984 in Dearborn, MI) Matthew is the son of old time hockey defencemen Larry Odett. Matthew styles his game after some of hockeys great, underappreciated but spectacular netminders: Curtis Joseph Chris Osgood Julie "The Cat" Gaffney (who Matt also had a huge crush on, but that is a story for another time) Street Hockey Days Matthew started playing hockey in the mean streets of Canton, MI. Matthew originally started playing forward with some success, he loved scoring goals on the inept goalies in the neighborhood. Although he loved scoring, the urge to play net started to come through when Bobby Harrington came home with a brand new pair of Mylec street hockey pads. Matthew had to get a pair. Off and on Matthew would gear up, and play net for the kids. His fear of the street hockey ball kept him from playing his hardest. '''First Injury - During a warm summer day in the early 90's, Matthew was going through some stick handling drills with the neighbor kids that live behind him. While battling for the hockey ball by the garage, the neighbors stick rode up Matthews stick striking him in the face. Throwing his glasses to the ground, Matthew placed his hand on his head. He knew something was wrong when his normally milky white hand was raging red! Apparently his glasses had been smashed into his left eyebrow, piercing the skin. Matthew was rushed to the emergency room where he received 6 stiches. This incident only made Matthew love hockey that much more. In the summer of 1997 Matthew and his family moved to South Lyon, MI. He thought for certain his hockey career would be over. I mean, who plays hockey in South Lyon? Well to Matthews surprise, hockey was even bigger in his new home town then is was in Canton! The day Matthew moved into his new house there were kids in the street playing an intense game of hockey. This made Matthews heart rejoice. The kids skated up(yes skated) to Matthew to see if he wanted to join. Looking back at his parents they gave him the knod and off he went. Matthew did feel out of place however. Back in the Canton days all the kids played in their shoes, this kids, they all had rollerblades on and were glyding all over the newish road. The captian of this team said not to worry for he had his old pair of Missions that he could have. Lacing up the skates for the first time, Matthew joined in and played his heart out. Not all went well however. Matthew soon realized he didnt have the skill to keep up with these kids. These guys were bigger, stronger and faster. After months of getting out played, Tony Nixon sat down with Matthew and talked about playing goalie, which there was a big need for. As sometime passed, Matthew decided to go for it. Him and Tony drove up to The Sports Authority and bought his first pair of goalie pads. That day the Wincrest Warriors were born. Consisting of captain Tony Nixon, Randy Barrett, Brian Ingersol, Josh Williams, Nick Valerine and Matthew Odett. '''2nd Injury - '''Before making the switch to goal, Matthew suffered his second major street hockey injury. It was a hard fought game, tons of 'grass only' checking was taking place. Tony Nixon was coming in 1-on-1 against Matthew. Tony rips a shot and his follow thru catches him right in the mouth. Grabbing his jaw, Matthew spits into his hand what he thought were a couple rocks from the street, but no, they were his two front teeth. (Hold on guys, there are some rocks in my mouth. OH NO! those are rocks, those are my teef! My teef!..... "I wanna play as Rex Rugar") The stick evenly broke both of his teeth right in half, right at the start of the roots. After a temporary fix of cementing his orgianlly teeth back together, Matthew now is the proud owner of two fake front teeth. Another proud scare from his early hockey days. Street hockey soon became boring. The Warriors moved on to play a few games of indoor roller hockey. This still did not satisfy their hockey needs. The team decided it was time to take it to the ice. The only problem was, while all his teammates had all the right gear, Matthew did not have any ice hockey goalie equipment. Teammate Randy Barrett had the perfect solution. His dad had just bought him new equipment tha year before, and since then Randy had quit playing goal to start a career at the forward decision. Matthew bought that equipment and that day his dream of becoming an ice hockey goaltender was born. With his matching blue, black and white Vaughn pads, Matthew took to the ice with his teammates. They skated at the Kensington Valley Ice Arena in Brighton, MI. Matthew soon started meeting Witness kids that all played hockey together. Ryan Weston introduced Matthew to the then commisioner of the IJWHL, Ryan Houle. Needing another goalie, Matthew made the cut and started his ice hockey career. Inkster Days Matthew started his quasi-illustrious ice hockey career at the age of 17 playing in Inkster. In his rookie year Matthew was drafted onto the black team for the 2004 Inkster Classic. The team also consisted of Ryan Houle, Matt Wiseman, Dave Hamilton and the 3 Headed Monster Dale, Ryan and Lynley Weston. In the first game of the tournament, Matthew got lit up like christmas tree, going onto lose the game 9-5. After a team meeting Matthew became more focused and lead his team to the championship game against Eric Jayne and the white team. Black vs White: Veteran vs Rookie: Good vs Evil: It was a hard fought game. But in the end the veteran netminder Jayne, outplayed the rookie and White went onto win 5-3. Matthews earliest memory of ice hockey took place during his very first game at Inkster. He went to play the puck behind the net and all of the sudden CRASH! He was slammed into the boards. When Matthew looked up who was standing above him? None other than Matt Wiseman. With a big grin on his face he said "Welcome to Inkster". Melvindale Days When Matthew started his career in Melvindale in the Spring of 2005, his teammate Dan Vincent gave him the nickname 'Odie'. A name that he goes by to this day. Odies main diet before the game involves beer, chicken strips, cheese sticks, and the occasional hamburger. this all contributes to his style of play where he goes down and never seems to be able to get up. Category:1984 Births